


Splendor

by nats_zoo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dates, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Makeup, Out of Character Kozume Kenma, but thats fine this serves as a weird comfort for me, except the "lovers" part is barely hinted at and only referenced in the last fifty words, god help me, i REALLY love writing friends to lovers stories, i just REALLY wanted to write kenma in makeup, if u couldnt tell already, im just bad at writing yall, lets face it yall everytime i write a character theyre OOC, purely self indulgent, subtle Friends-to-Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:39:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25374025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nats_zoo/pseuds/nats_zoo
Summary: When Kenma showed up to your house, he was expecting to relax on the couch with you and play Smash. What he wasn't expecting was to walk into you getting ready for a date. He also wasn't expecting to somehow be pulled along into having his makeup done.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 94





	Splendor

**Author's Note:**

> this is ENTIRELY self-indulgent kenma fluff and i dont know whether to apologize or say "you're welcome" so i'll just do both :)  
> this is unedited and rushed!! i really wanted to get something out and keep writing before i lost my momentum. sorry if this isn't the best quality!! i hope you still enjoy it a bit, though.  
> as always, leave a kudos and a comment if you enjoyed this and tell me what you found good or bad or just any observations you have.  
> thank you for all the support on my writing so far! it's really been motivating me a lot and it's always great to know that people enjoy reading my stuff as much as i enjoy writing it.  
> love u all !! happy reading <3

“A... what?” 

“A date, Kenma.” 

Kenma blinked, gaze becoming distant as he put a strange amount of effort into processing what had just come out of your mouth. 

This was certainly  _ not _ what he was expecting to see when he showed up to your house.

Just fifteen minutes ago he’d taken the initiative to make his way to your place, unannounced, with a bag containing leftover snacks from his cabinets and his switch. He figured you’d welcome him in despite the short (or rather, nonexistent) notice--it wasn’t strange for the two of you to just show up at each other’s houses with an overdue invitation to hang out. 

He wasn’t anticipating for you to answer the door dressed in an unfamiliarly formal getup with your hair done up in an equally unfamiliar way. 

Kenma was snapped back to the present as you let out a short laugh. “Are you gonna come in? Or are you gonna turn around just ‘cause I told you I’ve got a date?” 

Yeah. That part. You were dressed up for a date. He couldn’t help but feel a little bitter at the fact that the date was  _ not _ with him, but shoved those feelings down his throat before he could make some stupid, less-than-discreet comment about his jealousy for  _ whoever it was _ you even decided to go out with. 

“I’d feel bad if I just kicked you out,” you told him as you both treaded up the stairs to your bedroom. “So you can stay while I do my makeup. And you can stay after I leave, too, but… I really don’t know what you’d even do without me here, haha.”

The boy gave a short hum in response, following you into your bedroom and laying down on your bed where he mindlessly scrolled through different apps on his phone. Out of the corner of his eye he caught you gathering small makeup bags and shoving them onto your desk along with a small mirror, making a makeshift vanity to do your makeup on. 

Kenma slowly and subconsciously found himself entranced by the way you smoothly glided products along your skin and brushed powder over your eyelids. Part of this curiosity was due to his general curiosity when it came to makeup. Though it certainly wasn’t something he’d discuss with other people (even with you or Kuroo), the ways people could manage to slap pigment on their faces and make it look good was just…  _ cool, _ to say the least. 

And, of course, part of it was due to his utter infatuation with you as a whole. But he wasn’t planning on addressing that any time soon. 

You spritzed some sort of mist over your face and fanned yourself with your hands for a minute before turning back to your friend on the bed, a wide smile adorning your features. “So? How do I look?” 

Kenma paused. Then blinked. His stomach fluttered gently and his ears shone red beneath the mop of his hair. “Okay.” 

A playful huff forced its way from your lips.  _ ”’Okay _ ?’ I did  _ not _ go out of my way to use my expensive highlighter to just look  _ ‘okay,’” _

_ Why would you be going out of your way to do that in the first place? For some random guy you decided to go on a date with on a whim? _ Kenma forced the bitter thoughts far back into his head and tore his eyes away from your ethereal form. 

“‘S… good.” 

A smile appeared on your face. “Thanks, Ken.” A beat of silence passed through the room before you spoke up again. 

“Hey, I’ve got some time before I have to leave. Can I do your makeup?” 

Kenma froze. The day just kept coming with unpredictable things, huh? He looked up at you with widened eyes tinted with confusion. 

“My… makeup…?” 

“Yeah! Just for fun. I have makeup wipes, and you can take it off right away, I promise. I’ve just always wondered what you look like with it one. I think you’d look really pretty.” 

_ Pretty. _ The word bounced of the now-emptied walls of Kenma’s mind and he found himself staying silent for a time too long to be comfortable. 

You cleared your throat. “You don’t actually have to. I was just--” 

“No…” he cut you off meekly. “It’s fine. You can… do it, if you want.” 

Your expression brightened even more than it already was, and a small shout of victory fell out of your lips as you moved to grab products from your desk and group them together. Searching for a specific item, Kenma watched as your hand hovered above the mess of tubes and brushes and compacts on your desk before darting down to grab a small bottle filled with some weird translucent liquid he couldn’t immediately identify. 

Rolling your chair over to his place on your bed, you paused before you could even take any further action. Kenma furrowed his eyebrows at your frozen form before you explained. 

“Your hair is kind of long,” you rolled back over to your desk and opened a drawer, rummaging through it fervently. “I’m just going to pin it back for now.” 

Pulling your hand out to reveal two sparkly bobby pins, you quickly went to work with the small accessories, pulling back the strands of hair near his face and sliding the bobby pins in, grazing his scalp in a less-than-pleasant manner in order to properly secure the clips. 

You leaned back and admired the full sight of Kenma’s soft features. His ears went pink once more at your gaze of admiration and he turned his head away from you, earning a yell of complaint from you. 

“Hey! Don’t turn away! You look cute! I have to put stuff on your face, c’mon, turn back.” A gentle grip took hold of his chin as you maneuvered his head to face you. Kenma suppressed a flinch at the intimate contact and the lack of distance between the two of you. He could feel the gentle breeze of your breathe fan over his skin as your scrutinizing gaze flit all over his face. 

Kenma must’ve zoned out, because he didn’t notice the discreet working of your hands until he felt a gel product touch his skin and your fingers gently rub it in. 

“This is primer,” you began to explain offhandedly. “It smooths out your skin and makes it a nice base for all the other stuff.” 

Your voice had softened from your sudden tone before, and slowly lulled Kenma into a pleasant haze as you moved about. You talked about each and every product you applied on his face but he was more focused on physical sensation and the calming drone of your voice rather than the actual content of it. 

After you’d put the  _ primer _ on, you put a thin layer of liquid tinted to match his skin and patted it in with a soft sponge. (“This actually isn’t mine,” you had told him after explaining what the product was. “It was my other friend’s. She left it here, thank God she did, ‘cause mine might’ve not matched your skin.”)

With a soft, large brush, you’d applied some soft of loose powder all over your face. Kenma found the gentle swirls on his skin soothing and he was further entranced into an ethereal state of mind. Other smaller, fluffy brushes followed, with a soft pink hue being liberally patted along his cheeks and warm red and pink tones being patted onto his eyelid, followed by a glittery shade near the corners of his eyes that he protested to at first, but finally obliged to your “vision,” as you called it. 

The ink-saturated tip of a felt brush was swiped along the edges of his eyelids with calculated, practiced movements and a rough brush was swiped through of his eyelashes (with difficulty, as Kenma couldn’t help but flinch at the weird sensation of it). 

With the pad of your ring finger, you swiped a shimmery powder over the highest part of his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. “Highlighter,” you explained. “Makes you look like an angel child. It’s the best part of this whole thing, in my opinion.” You leaned backwards so that the sunlight peeking through your window angled right onto your skin. “See?” 

Kenma certainly  _ did  _ see the effect that the product had on your features. You’d always been naturally stunning, something he’d barely admit to himself in embarrassment, but something about the glittery powder made you look even more ethereal than before. The sunlight fanned over your features in a warm ray. The use of the highlighter was evident along your cheeks. where it moved and sparkled with the warm hues of light. You tilted your head around as if to showcase the fluorescent effect veiled over your features. 

Kenma was dazed. He felt embarrassed for being so swayed just by the sight of you in the drifting sunlight but at the same time, he couldn’t find it in himself to complain. You were  _ pretty, _ he thought, not just now--you had always been appealing to look at (a weird way of phrasing it, but the stiff way of saying it gave him a bit of comfort in denying his feelings). But something about the way you presented yourself, a gossamer of liquid gold laid dewey on your skin--it left Kenma in a swirl of fluttering butterfly wings and distantly recognized nausea. 

Before he knew it, you were rolling back towards him and resuming the soft tapping motions on his face. In another moment, he was commanded to close his eyes so you could spritz a light, cool mist over his face, which you explained was to  _ lock in all your hard work. _

A block of time passed in which you sat and stared at him with something he refused to label as  _ adoration _ but couldn't find another accurate word for. Your lips bordered on a soft smile and your eyes softened from your previously focused gaze. 

Kenma’s breath hitched. Your noses were close to touching and he felt deja vu from the way your gentle breaths blew softly over his freshly-painted face. 

You chuckled, eyes closing for a second before opening back up to admire him once more. “You’re so pretty.” 

The layers of blush packed onto his cheeks were enough to represent the flush that spread across his face at your blunt statement. Before he could request it himself, you took the small mirror from your desk and pushed it towards him, letting him see the sum of your hard work. 

Kenma’s hair was still pinned back, but a few thin strands had escaped from the grasp of the bobby pins, framing his face delicately. His skin seemed mattified, and any of his scattered blemishes were covered up in a sheer layer of foundation and powder. His cheeks were rosy pink--saturated far too much to be natural but in a way that still worked with his face and the rest of the makeup. His eyelids were coated in a satisfying blend of red, orange and pink, smoothly extending up to his brow-bone, with golden glitter patted into the center and corner of his eyelids. The highlighter (which he begrudgingly admitted he was most excited to see the result of) shone on his cheeks and nose, dusting him in a silvery sheen of fluorescence that he couldn’t help but find himself entranced by, just as he had been with you. His lips were soft, covered in a thin layer of lip balm--you’d claimed his lips were pigmented enough to settle for a simple chapstick.

He blinked, snapping him out of his trance in the mirror. His eyes flitted up to your expression of anticipation and flitted away before he could become distracted again. 

“I… I like it.” 

If possible, your smile grew brighter, out-performing the shimmer on your cheeks. 

“Great!” A pause, and you continued, blinking and averting your eyes to where your phone sat on the desk. “I have to go now. If you want to wash it off, the wipes are in the left drawer in the bathroom. But… you look so pretty. Maybe leave it on for now.” 

Kenma furrowed his eyebrows. What, was he supposed to walk back home with a full face of makeup? How would  _ that _ work out for him? 

“I’ll be back in three…” You checked the texts on your phone, likely from whoever your date for the night was (Kenma found his expression dampening at the resurfaced thought). You contemplated something for a few seconds, brow furrowing momentarily before you looked back up at your friend. “Two hours. I promise. And then we can… hang out. You can sleep over, too. I have some of your clothes from last time.”

Kenma’s expression subtly lightened at the prospect. Spending time with you would certainly be nice. And after seeing how much you seemed to like the makeup… he’d keep it on, too. 

“Actually. One hour. I’ll be back in one hour.” You just kept cutting the time shorter and shorter--but Kenma knew what you meant. 

An unexpectedly soft smile appeared on the boy’s face, sending you into yet another dazed haze of admiration. He knew that you meant you’d end the date earlier than you initially intended, that you’d head home as soon as you could ( _ without _ letting the guy walk you home), slip off your heels and join Kenma on the couch, where he would’ve already hooked up his Switch and anticipated your return. You’d both sit close together and share a controller and play whatever multiplayer games were in Kenma’s game library until inevitably falling asleep together on the couch in a tangle of limbs. 

It was times like these where he was glad you knew him so well. 

You leaned down, close to his face--Kenma felt soft lips, slightly sticky from quickly-drying lip gloss press against the middle of his forehead, lingering in a way he read as more-than-platonic, before straightening yourself out and dusting off your outfit of nonexistent dust. 

“Pretty.” You mumbled one more time for good measure before slipping out of your bedroom door and heading off to your (inevitably short-lived) date. 

The prospect of you going on a date with anyone other than him seemed grim. But Kenma knew that the night was still young and you both could certainly make the most of it. 


End file.
